A hardline Islamic sect that supports hate cleric Yufuf [sic] al-Qaradawi is planning to build a giant madrassa school and Muslim centre a few minutes from Britain’s new Olympic stadium.
The nationwide Dawatul Islam group, which has links with the militant Islamist Jamaat e Islami movement in Bangladesh, has lodged the proposals for an 11-storey, boys-only boarding school and Muslim community centre in east London with the local council. It will cost £27million and involves the demolition of an historic Victorian schoolhouse it bought for £377,000 in 1998. The £1million-a-year charity was awarded £32,000 of Government “Preventing Violent Extremism” cash last year, despite the controversial views of its vice-president, Hasan Mueenuddin.
He has described Britain’s ban on Egyptian cleric Dr al-Qaradawi, who defends suicide bombers, as “deplorable”. He called Dr al-Qaradawi “one of the most progressive thinking Muslim scholars of the 21st century”.